El Hazard is distributed by Pioneer Entertainment, who holds the
rights to it, and not I. Nor do I have any permission to use the
situations, characters, et cetera, of El Hazard, nor should this be
regarded as 'official,' or 'canon' in any way, shape or form.
Purely a non-profit creation-- a gift, from me to you that I set
out adrift in the cold, cold world. If you wish to return the
favour and give a gift of your own, C&C is always nice! ^_^



                        Eye of Man
                      or alternatively
                         Inshallah
    
    During the Second World War, countless manuscripts-- diaries,
memoirs, eyewitness accounts-- were lost or destroyed. Some of
these narratives were deliberately hidden-- by those who did not
live to retrieve them.
    Other stories are concealed in memory, neither written nor
spoken. Still others are recovered, by circumstance.

                                --Beginning of Fugitive Pieces, 
                                    by Anne Michaels


    Entry #1

    Inshallah. 
    Inshallah someone might find this, and know the truth that I
have seen with my own eyes. 
    Inshallah, my name. A somewhat odd name, I admit, even amongst
us who were born and live in the Desert of Bleached White Bones. We
know that there are things, like the Desert, that are bigger than
us, and that the only way to survive is to admit it, and so we ask
for God's will-- inshallah.
    I am a soldier now, in Roshtaria, in Florestica. I give honour
to my family and my people-- I find it exciting and somewhat
daunting. It is very strange here, I must admit. I still find it
hard to believe all this water exists. Why, they even have
fountains in the palace! My family and friends from home have a
hard time believing this (I still do myself, and yet here I am,
writing beside one of these very fountains), and I will send them a
picture of it.

    Entry #2

    The people here are very nice, but somewhat strange. It must
come from having all this water around-- a small stream even flows
through the palace! Inshallah, one day I will be able to save
enough money for my family to come and see this.
    The other soldiers tease me somewhat about my wonder at all the
water, but it is only good-natured ribbing, and they respect my
abilities. It still stuns me how much they use for the simplest
tasks. This place is beautiful, a riotious profusion of plants and
animals and life-- nothing like the stark and simple enchantment of
the Desert-- it is a much faster place, I think.

    Entry #3

    Inshallah, I must confess that I do not like princess Fatora.
It is not necessary that I do so though, like or dislike does not
enter into my job-- a good soldier follows orders, and that is what
I do. Many do not like her: they say she is cruel, they say she is
spoiled, they say many things, but that does not bother me. She is,
after all, a princess, and has a different set of behaviours to
follow-- I accept and understand this. It is such a petty reason,
why I do not like her, that I hesitate to write it down. I am
almost ashamed, really. She talks too much. There, I said it. 
    Her sister though, Rune Venus, I quite like. She reminds me of
my Ni'mat, quiet and gentle-- with a strength in her hidden
underneath the grace.
    Above it all I am well contented here, even if I still attract
the occasional look at my wonderment of the place-- once in a while
I still cannot comprehend that I am here, and not in the Desert. 
    Inshallah, that is enough for me now-- I go on duty in a few
moments.

    Entry #4

    I had a small amount of leave accumulated and decided to take
it. Instead of going back to the Desert, it occurred to me that I
should take this time to explore a little bit.
    Inshallah, I found a place, away from other people. There was a
grove. Vines of grapes grew there, the sweetest grapes I have ever
tasted before. Inshallah, I will go there again. Perhaps,
inshallah, I might be able to buy the land when I retire and grow
the grapes myself, turning them into what could only be a superior
wine.

    Entry #5

    My friends, both those who are comrades-in-arms and those whom
are not, tell me that I am too staid, that I should go out and have
fun more often. There are many pretty girls about, they say
grandly, and they also say to me that I receive many appraising
looks because of my heritage. Something mysterious or some such
nonsense, because of the Desert. Different worlds, they say. I
agree-- this is a far different world than that of the dunes and
the stones and the quiet oases where I grew up, but there is
nothing mysterious about me. I am quiet plain, really. Nothing
special, not like my Ni'mat, she, now she is special. When I finish
this first tour of duty, inshallah, I will return and marry her, as
we have been promised to each other since what seems like forever.
There is no other for me, even if we were not promised I would want
no other but her.  

    Entry #6

    Princess Fatora has been gone for a few days now, which is
unusual, but not unheard of. We are more than a little nervous,
because this time she took no one with her, not even her constant
companion Alielle. Even we of the Desert know that the Eye can only
be activated by both princesses working together, and if one of
them is lost, then all of us are lost to the Bugrom. Inshallah we
shall find her soon.
    My parents and my brothers and my little sister Shadya marvel
at the pictures of the palace that I send them, and of the gardens
and the trees. Most of all they stare at a picture I found of a
lake-- a large, permanent body of water. They cannot believe that
so much water can exist. Little Shadya (seeing her picture how she
has grown! already she is of marriagable age) has made a song about
it-- she always was the type to sing, no matter what she was doing
or where she was. 

    Entry #7

    Fatora has been found, and now she goes to seek the priestesses
of Mount Muldoon. Inshallah she will be successful in convincing
them to break the seal on the Eye. The Bugrom are restless-- why
they even attacked Rune Venus as she made her way to the seer. Dark
days are coming, Inshallah it will not come to pass. I sent a
letter to my family and to Ni'mat, asking them to go to the city
and to stay there for a bit-- a few months, at the most. They can
afford it, business has been good of late, although with the Bugrom
massing there is less trade across the Desert of Bleached White
Bones, and so will drop off anyway. They should get it very soon,
even though they criss-cross the Desert in the caravan constantly.
The should arrive where I am sending it just in time for them to
receive it, according to the schedule my father has sent me.
Inshallah it is nothing but the worries of a soldier who hears too
much. 

    Entry #8

    My posting has changed-- our unit is being redeployed at
Geinos. Mine and Ni'mat's families should be safe behind city walls
by now. I feel better now, though I still think it is just a petty
whim of mine, and not something to be really concerned about, yes?
Still, we do not know when or if we will be back at the palace. I
went back to the vine grove one last time yesterday, and took a few
with me. Inshallah I will be able to plant a few seeds in Geinos
and see what happens.

    Entry #9

    There is war-- the Bugrom have attacked. They took Dorosland in
one fell swoop, like it was nothing. We are already mounting a
counter-offensive to take it back-- a battalion out of Lydae has
already been deployed, so I have been told. Inshallah I told my
family to seek shelter in the city-- where there is more
protection.

    Entry #10

    My family! My family! Oh my Ni'mat, we were to finally be
married in a matter of months! They unleashed Ifurita, most
powerful and deadly of the ancient demon-gods, and she destroyed
the city our families were staying in. My fault! It is my fault--
if only I had not told them to go to the city to seek shelter to
weather the war. It is the fault of one of the strangers, one of
these 'Earth-people,' who has become the Bugrom general or leader.
How can he? I do not understand, I do not understand at all. 
    I do know that understanding is not necessary, I am a soldier,
I follow orders. I will not succumb to despair, I will not kill
myself to be reunited with my loved ones in paradise-- I have a
higher purpose now. Inshallah I will live to seek revenge on those
who did this to them: on the Bugrom and on Ifurita, though I may
die in the attempt. No mission will be too dangerous for me, nor
too long nor too difficult. I shall make myself into an arrow, to
cast into my enemy's heart, and if I die, so be it; at least I make
the attempt.

    Entry #11

    My friends have helped me somewhat. They stopped me from the
suicide course I was heading towards, and would not allow me to
take one of the futile missions. They are giving me something to
live for, and not die for, again. It still hurts, and I still
grieve, and I will for a long time, but inshallah I will not
forever, and I will live.

    Entry #12

    Odd, that I am writing this. Before I started my training, I
never kept a diary or a journal-- at best a travelogue, which I
would write in some of the more permanent features r changes of the
Desert, to more better and easily navigate it. Perhaps it is the
same thing-- I am doing this to help me navigate this larger and
stranger world I find myself in. 
    Or maybe it is hubris-- that I think i have something to say to
those who come after me. But nothing in here is anything that needs
to be said-- I have no grand wisdom in me, no special insight or
wisdom to impart. I am a man from the Desert who has become a
soldier and has lost his loved ones in this war. As long as you
realise that some things, like the Desert, like this war, are
bigger than you are, you can survive them. I forgot that, at least
partly-- forgot that the war is bigger than any one man. My friends
and fellow soldiers have helped me to remember. 
    I must go now, and prepare. Scouting reports have indicated
that Bugrom troops are massing at the borders and will attack.
Inshallah we will prevail.

                    -found in the rubble of a barracks in Geinos



Author's notes: Meant to be a peek in the life of one of the
supporting cast of the El Hazard OAVs, a look into the life of an
everyman, or everysoldier, at least. Close, but not quite.
Originally was going to have references to Oracle-- putting forth a
somewhat different and unflattering view of Hayashi, while still
being perfectly valid and following observable behaviour. I just
wanted to break away from Oracle, and though this could potentially
take place within that continuity (no contradictions, either way),
it does not necessarily have to, either. 
    So I deleted the references to Oracle, and reworked it and
added to it a bit. It seemed to go by pretty quickly, actually
(due, no doubt in part, to its relatively short length). More
entries, and the lengthening of some of these entries, are a
possibility, because I did not quite get the breadth or depth of
the world that I wanted-- it could be in part because I myself do
not keep a diary or journal or what-have-you, and am ill-equipped
to think of what would go into one. Your thoughts on the matter
would be appreciated.
    The title, Eye of Man came, obviously as a reference to the Eye
of God, and that this was supposed to be a view of the events of
and surrounding the first OAV series through the eyes of a common
man. I think that filling it out somewhat is in order, don't you (a
reference to Fujisawa, for instance, and perhaps some of the others
as well). The alternate title? Well, just because the character
uses it a lot, it makes it somewhat appropriate. Which do you
prefer as a title?
    As for the quote at the start? Fugitive Pieces is a very, very
good book. I am stunned and awed and humbled by the writing in it--
it shows me just how far I have left to go (and yet, when I read it
the first time about a year ago, I liked it well enough but it did
not provoke this reaction in me).

Meanings of some of the names:

Ni'mat- boon, blessing
Shadya- Singer
Inshallah- God's will


Further, unrelated notes: I find myself in the deplorable state of
having not commented on several stories which I have meant to for a
while, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to upwards of a
month-- inexcusable, I know, but there you go. I shall endeavour to
remedy this, immediately (and it isn't because I don't know what to
say, either-- I know exactly what I want to comment on, and what I
want to say, as well-- I think it is just the how, the exact
wording, that's been bothering me), and, because I am ashamed of
this neglect on my part, in private.
    Also, it seems like I'll be able to make it to Anime North
after all (I thought I was working that weekend, but I'm not!), for
all of you who are going and wish the chance to bask in the glory
that is me (no, I don't have a problem with low self-esteem, why do
you ask). ^_^

Matthew Lewis is:
	Matt on IRC
	Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net
	a proud member of Lumpy Pot Productions
( http://members.xoom.com/Morisato.home.html )
	in need of updating his webpage at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/9345/index.html
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If you can't laugh at other people, who can you
laugh at?
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